TY - JOUR
T1 - The 'biographical turn' in university sociology teaching
T2 - A Bernsteinian analysis
AU - Mclean, Monica
AU - Abbas, Andrea
PY - 2009/10
Y1 - 2009/10
N2 - Little is known about what happens to disciplinary knowledge when it is taught in contemporary UK universities of different status. Here, Basil Bernstein's theories are applied to what sociology lecturers say about teaching, demonstrating that in conditions in which students are less likely to engage with sociological theory, lecturers, particularly in universities of lower status, employ 'biographical methods' to ensure that a 'core' of sociology remains intact and sociology is reproduced in students. Students' lives are used as subject matter to teach the relevance and value of sociology. Attention is drawn to how, while this pedagogic strategy might result in a powerless form of 'pop sociology', in this case, lecturers bring theory, student research and application into a dynamic relationship which unexpectedly suggests that, at present, sociology might be more easily preserved in the less prestigious universities.
AB - Little is known about what happens to disciplinary knowledge when it is taught in contemporary UK universities of different status. Here, Basil Bernstein's theories are applied to what sociology lecturers say about teaching, demonstrating that in conditions in which students are less likely to engage with sociological theory, lecturers, particularly in universities of lower status, employ 'biographical methods' to ensure that a 'core' of sociology remains intact and sociology is reproduced in students. Students' lives are used as subject matter to teach the relevance and value of sociology. Attention is drawn to how, while this pedagogic strategy might result in a powerless form of 'pop sociology', in this case, lecturers bring theory, student research and application into a dynamic relationship which unexpectedly suggests that, at present, sociology might be more easily preserved in the less prestigious universities.
KW - Basil Bernstein
KW - Biographical pedagogy
KW - Social class
KW - Teaching sociology
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=70349873803&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13562510903186725
U2 - 10.1080/13562510903186725
DO - 10.1080/13562510903186725
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:70349873803
SN - 1356-2517
VL - 14
SP - 529
EP - 539
JO - Teaching in Higher Education
JF - Teaching in Higher Education
IS - 5
ER -